My Bible Study Group picked this book to learn a bit about Midrash. We are finding that it is enabling us to open our hearts and minds to God's Word in ways that never occurred to us. At this time we are about half way through the book and still excited about what we are learning.
Midrash magic:
This book is a little miracle. Like the King James Bible, it is lyrical. Like Torah, it goes to the essence of faith. Moving easily between Judaism and Christianity, it reveals similarities and differences, enriching our knowledge of both traditions as it introduces us to the Hebrew way of probing the language of the Bible, midrash.
Great intentions, disappointing results:
Kunst's intent in this book is admirable - to show to Christians the value of imaginative interpretation of Scripture and to provide concrete exercises for applying it in your life. Unfortunately, many of the exercises seem drawn from writers' creative stimulus books - remember a time when nature .... etc.
Although it deals with visual rather than verbal midrash, I find Jo Milgrom's book (Handmade Midrash) to be more effective in walking Christians through imaginative interpretation of Scripture.... more info
Reading Scripture with Reverence and Imagination:
To take seriously the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as paradoxically God-breathed and humanly composed requires a comparable paradox in our reading of them, that is, both reverent attention and daring imagination. Also required is a kind of wonder and love for language itself and its mysterious power as a medium for revelation and creativity. Judith Kunst presses us into these paradoxes in her own engaging story of learning, as a Christian, to read the Bible through the ancient Jewish practice of midrash.... more info
